The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has granted its approval to Chennai based Trivitron Healthcare to commercially launch their flagship product COVID-19 Rapid Testing Antigen (ag) Kit.

This Covid-19 testing kits will be branded as ‘Biocard Pro COVID-19 Rapid Antigen’ and is claimed to provide accurate results in just 7~10 minutes.

Individuals suspected to have been infected with the novel coronavirus (nCoV) can make use of the Biocard Pro COVID-19 Rapid Antigen kit to confirm their infection status.

Biocard Pro COVID-19 Rapid Antigen kit is a chromatographic immunoassay for the qualitative detection of COVID-19 specific antigen present in human nasopharyngeal. Using a nasal swab to get a fluid sample, antigen tests can produce results in minutes. As these tests are faster and less expensive than other popularly done PCR tests, antigen tests may be more practical to use for large numbers of people.

Technical Specification of Biocard Pro COVID-19 Rapid Ag test kit:

• Method: Immuno chromatography
• Sample type: Nasopharyngeal Swab
• Assay Time: 7 to 10 minutes
• Storage: 4 to 30^◦C
• Shelf-life: 24 months

Rajesh Patel, Chief Executive Officer – IVD India, Trivitron Healthcare, on this occasion said - The main focus is to contribute in the global fight against COVID-19 through world class products and expertise in medical technology. Our Rapid antigen test is quicker than the available RT‑PCR based tests, as it takes approximately 7-10 minutes, compared to about five hours being taken by the RT-PCR based testing methods. Also, confirmation through antigen based tests does not require a sophisticated laboratory, which is a key requirement for RT-PCR tests.

Biocard Pro COVID-19 Rapid Antigen kit will be manufactured at Trivitron’s Chennai manufacturing facility at the rate of around 4.5-5 million tests per month. The company plans to distribute these kits to various government entities and private laboratories through various marketing channels.